Susonna is a leader in the nursing profession and has been recognized by the CNO at Methodist University Hospital. She shows her commitment to the profession by promoting education, teamwork, and professionalism. She volunteers for and assumes additional work throughout the system and at University such as outreach presentations representing Methodist Healthcare, teaching and designing multiple patient care topics and issues. She assists in direct patient care of her day 100% of her time and additionally she does multiple things outside of her bedside role such as facilitating the Clinical Practice Council, assisting as preceptor, charge nurse, and mentor, She promotes excellence in patient care by maintaining a high standard of care and role modeling that care for nurses throughout the hospital.

She presents herself in a professional manner by her demeanor, attire, speech, compassion, interactions, and actions. She serves as an outstanding role model for nurses as well as other health care professionals. She serves as a role model for clinical competence and commitment to excellence as well as mentorship, teamwork, and patient advocacy.

She is actively involved in professional and community local and national organizations as follows: American Association of Critical Care Nurses -AACN American Association of Critical Care Nurses -MCAACN-Greater Memphis Area Association of Critical Care Nurses American College of Nursing American Nurses Association and the State Tennessee Nurses Association Society of Critical Care Nursing (SCCM) Catholic Charities Disaster Team-Arkansas, Special Olympics for Arkansas, Honor Society for Nursing INTERNATIONAL-Sigma Theta Tau, and Phi Kappa Mu Honor Society for Academics

She has participated in local events, membership, and educational offerings of multiple organizations. She demonstrates a strong sense of commitment to nursing specialty as recognition of excellent patient care and knowledge of specialty. She has been certified as a Certified Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) and feels that it is essential to be certified as part of being professional. She maintains this certification at this time and it is current. She has received her BSN and is about to graduate with her MSN in dual majors-we know DAISY foundation criteria give award not only based on compassion but also competent.

Susonna on her units and for system projects assists others as well as develops strategies to share the work load-there is not a day goes by that Susonna is not seen helping a visitor to a location, assisting RN in a resuscitation, helping others on her team and other ICUS with Dr. ICE and cardiovascular specialty (CV) competencies that other units do not have. Like in the middle of the nightone ICU who does not have femoral cardiac cath lab sheaths Susonna will come over and remove it for the RN in the non-cardiac unit, she will go out of her way 1,000,000 miles to ensure that the team or the patient is taken care of and that the patients and family's needs are met. She recently had 1,000 blankets donated through a Walgreens grant to MLH so that every palliative care patient will have a blanket to be prayed over and the family can have a momento of their loved one to take home.. She constantly asks questions on the units, of patients, of families, physicians, and administration about making change. Susonna was a pioneer in allowing families and engaging them to be present in the room in the critical care unit at University called the CVICU-Cardiovascular ICU. She encourages the family to be present in the room and engages them in a respectful and positive manner. She encourages them to be part of rounding and be present at the bedsideand this was during "closed visitation". The system has caught up with Susonna's vision and now has "open visitation"-her unit was the model unit for the rest of University's transition to open visitation. If it were not for visionaries like Susonna who modeling patient and family centered care-others may not have embraced this principle and change would not have occurred so easily. But peers saw Susonna Guimond doing patient and family centered care and modeling this principle so thus change happened much more easily. Families say that she goes above and beyond to call the MD for them, to make sure simple things like mouth care, feeding, and the "simple" things are done as well as all the "ICU stuff".